Mergenet Medical Launches Trach-Assist® First Airway Secretion Management System of Its Kind

COCONUT CREEK, Fla., (BUSINESS WIRE) — Mergenet Medical, Inc., a leading global respiratory medical device company [other companies in this market include carefusion (nyse:CFN), Covidien / (COV 40.73, -0.03, -0.07%) , and Teleflex Incorporated (TFX 57.81, +0.58, +1.01%] today announced the launch of the Trach-Assist(R) device, the first airway secretion management system of its kind. Trach-Assist® is designed to significantly reduce the need for ventilator circuit changes. This revolutionary device will be exclusively distributed by Mercury Medical, Inc. of Clearwater, FL.

The Trach-Assist® is designed for use between a endotracheal/tracheostomy tube and a closed suction system. The airway secretions are collected in a special reservoir of the Trach-Assist® allowing clinicians to easily remove them with the installed closed suction cather without breaking the circuit. Circuit “breaks” have been identified as major risk factors of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) as well as lung de-recruitment and hypoxemia.

“Reducing circuit ‘breaks’ is a big opportunity to reduce the incidence of VAP as well as reduce material/labor costs of changing the ventilator circuit and its components,” said Dr. Michael Loggan, a Pulmonologist of Kansas City, Missouri.

CDC guidelines for preventing VAP, clearly state, “do not change routinely on the basis of duration of use, the breathing circuit in use on an individual patient. Change the circuit when it is visibly soiled or mechanically malfunctioning.” According to the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 2005, hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) accounts for approximately 25 percent of all hospital-associated infections (HAIs) and up to 27 percent of infections in the medical intensive-care unit and coronary care unit. Treating these infections quickly is not easy because it is challenging to identify the correct antibiotic to treat the infection. Therefore, the reduction/prevention of these infections is extremely important.

Incidence of VAP increases the length of hospital stays and cost. According to Critical Care Medicine, 2004, the cost of VAP is estimated to be an additional $40,000 per hospital admission per patient with the infection and an estimated $1.2 billion per year in the U.S. alone.